U.S. Navy Grants Four-Star Admiral Title to First Woman Ever

Guys, there’s a new woman-crush on the scene, and her name is Michelle Howard. Yesterday the U.S. Navy promoted her to four-star admiral—a first for any female navy officer in the Navy's 238-year history!

Now she’ll get to dole out biz cards that read “Vice Chief of Naval Operations & Queen of the Navy, Boo-yah” (kidding) to accompany stories about that time in 2009 she oversaw the rescue of a cargo ship skipper who’d been abducted by Somali pirates. That skipper’s story, of course, which was made into a Tom Hanks movie called Captain Phillips when it totally should have been all about her amazing career. But I digress.

Back in ’99 (what were YOU doing then?), Howard was the first African-American woman to command an American naval ship, the USS Rushmore. And in the early ‘80s, she was among a small number of women to enroll in the U.S. Naval Academy.

The woman’s a total role model. Looking forward to seeing what comes next in her career!